JUBILANT campaigners have won their battle to keep a quad bike arena out of the open countryside.

They were celebrating last night after Crewe and Nantwich borough councillors rejected plans to turn farmland near Leighton Hospital into a magnet for revellers on all-terrain adventure bikes.

Applicant G J Motors, of Hough, wanted to turn 150 acres of land at Spring Farm, off Moss Lane, Coppenhall, into a track for quad action from 9am to 9.30pm daily.

But families living in the rapidly growing area of Leighton were furious and formed the Moss Lane Protest Group, which gathered more than 1,000 names on a petition calling for the scheme to be thrown out.

Yesterday protest leader Ian Williamson said he was delighted councillors had taken heed of their concerns for safety in Moss Lane, a narrow country road used by horse riders and people walking dogs.

He said: 'We did two 12-hour surveys of traffic on the lane to prove it could not cope with the proposed number of vehicles visiting the site.

'This has been a victory for commonsense. It was madness to suggest people living nearby would not be affected by the noise of the bikes or that all the riders and spectators travelling to the site would not cause dangers on the lane.'

Applicants Barry Jones and Duncan Gaukroger said the protesters had objected without knowing the full facts.

The bikes they had intended to use were 50cc, 80cc and 150cc machines with four-stroke engines, which they said produce little noise and could be ridden by children as young as six.

A noise assessment presented to the committee revealed the sound would be no more than three decibels - five was considered a level which would cause a nuisance.

But Leighton ward councillor Christine Bratherton said the impact of all the bikes running at the same time would be a nightmare for residents.

Cllr Maureen Campbell said noise would travel across open fields to homes and the hospital, disturbing residents and patients.

She said: 'We are talking about noisy pieces of machinery. The applicants say residents already hear trains, but that sound is nothing like the constant drone of bikes revving up.'